The NMBS is thinking of charging a fee for those who leave their bicycle in a bicycle shed at the station for more than 24 hours.
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By 2025, the NMBS will create around 50,000 extra places for bicycles. “At the moment, the vision of the NMBS is that bicycle parking remains free,” said Federal Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR) in an answer to a parliamentary question. To immediately add that there will probably be a maximum duration of free parking.
24 hours, for example. If this maximum duration is exceeded, parking will be charged. It concerns the model of the Dutch Railways (NS). NMBS has yet to investigate whether it can adopt that model in its entirety. The railway company only asks that payment is made for bicycle parking with access control. So the customer only pays for the extra services. ‘
Increased security
Through its subsidiary B-Parking, the NMBS is simultaneously working on the roll-out of a new access control system. That system works with the Mobib card. In this way, the customer can pay with the same card for his train ticket and bicycle parking. ‘With the introduction of the access control system, NMBS wants to offer cyclists a guaranteed parking space and increased safety. It will be rolled out in collaboration with local authorities. ‘
Flemish representative and community senator Annick Lambrecht (SP.A) regrets that bicycle parking would become paying. ‘The government should stimulate the combination of bicycle and train. People who travel by bicycle and train cause fewer cars on our roads. Instead of rewarding them, we punish them. It seems as if the NMBS is trying to get more money out of travelers ‘pockets in all kinds of ways, while a bicycle parking and a place for your bicycle are purely part of the service.’
Lambrecht hopes that the Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open VLD), will also oppose the plan.
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